Note to Glúmr Gráf 8^I

[4] þjóðum ‘of troops’: The context suggests a military sense here (as also, e.g., in Hfr ErfÓl 14/4, ÞjóðA Lv 11/3^II), though ‘people’ is a more usual sense of þjóð. Syntactically, this dat. pl. form is capable of several interpretations. (a) The phrase blóði þjóðum ‘blood of troops’ is assumed here (as in Skj B), as the most natural in both sense and word order. The usage is comparable with the dat. of respect (almost of possession) common with parts of the body (NS §100 Anm. 3), though the gen. pl. þjóða might be expected (cf. manna ‘of men’ and synonyms qualifying blóð ‘blood’, e.g. in Eyv Hák 6/8, Eyv Hál 8/4, Anon Liðs 2/5-6). (b) Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson (ÍF 26) also attaches þjóðum to the subordinate clause, but reads rjóða þjóðum vǫll blóði ‘redden the field with blood for men’. Þjóðum is explained as a type of dativus ethicus, with the sense ‘before men’, i.e. ‘where men fought/stood’. ÍF 29 has the same construal, as does Hkr 1991, though with a different word order. (c) Kock (NN §1061) takes þjóðum as the indirect object of mælti in the main clause, hence ‘addressed forceful words to men’, but mæla e-m e-t normally means ‘to stipulate sth for sby’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NS = Nygaard, Marius. 1906. Norrøn syntax. Kristiania (Oslo): Aschehoug. Rpt. 1966.
5. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
6. Hkr 1991 = Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir et al., eds. 1991. Heimskringla. 3 vols. Reykjavík: Mál og menning.
7. ÍF 29 = Ágrip af Nóregskonunga sǫgum; Fagrskinna—Nóregs konungatal. Ed. Bjarni Einarsson. 1985.
8. Internal references
9. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Anonymous Poems, Liðsmannaflokkr 2’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1018.
10. Russell Poole (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Háleygjatal 8’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 206.
11. R. D. Fulk (ed.) 2012, ‘Eyvindr skáldaspillir Finnsson, Hákonarmál 6’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 180.
12. Kate Heslop (ed.) 2012, ‘Hallfreðr vandræðaskáld Óttarsson, Erfidrápa Óláfs Tryggvasonar 14’ in Diana Whaley (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to c. 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 420.
13. Diana Whaley (ed.) 2009, ‘Þjóðólfr Arnórsson, Lausavísur 11’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 175-6.